"The poor voters are taken for a ride"
- Revathy
by Jawahar Swaminathan

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What was the inspiration behind Mitr?
I wanted to direct and I was always interested in the technical aspects of filming since I started acting. Then for about 10 years now I had decided in my mind that one day I will direct a film. Priya, director Manirathnam’s associate, happened to tell me the story of Mitr. She has worked with him and also directing one of the serials called ‘Snehithiye’. It is produced by Suhasini and Mr. Manirathnam. So she told me this story and I was totally struck by it and I said it is something that happens in everybody’s life every day. I wanted to direct this film because of the story. So the inspiration of the story is definitely Priya’s. Her story was based in Bombay but since we didn’t want to make it very commercial and didn’t want to compromise on the subject we decided why don’t we make it in the Silicon Valley and make it in Indian English. That’s how we started on Mitr.

Why did you choose to work with an all women crew?
It actually just happened by chance. I am not a feminist of the kind that I will not work with men. I feel that equal rights is the most important thing. We need to understand each other and we are all human beings before we are man or a woman.
The story was written by Priya, and Sudha is a person who is working in our office as a screenplay writer. So Sudha and Priya started working on the screenplay and dialogues of the film. When I was looking for a cinematographer, I wanted somebody from P.C.Sriram's crew because I liked his style. He suggested that Fousia was planning to go independent. She has also worked in the second unit of Alaipayuthey. She came into the film. And the editor Beena is a good friend of mine and I just told her that she has to edit my film. Prabha,the costume designer is also my friend.
Then we were already 6 women in the team, we felt like going for a woman music director. But then if I hadn’t found a woman music director, who can give what we wanted for the film, definitely we would have compromised and would have gone for a male – it really didn’t matter. We came across Bhavatharini and she is really brilliant. She has that in her blood and she has a style of her own. For audiography of the film, I contacted Mr.Sridhar, the top DTS engineer in India. As he was very busy ,he recommended his assisitant Geetha. It just happened like that. It doesn’t matter whether they are women or men, I think I have got really good technicians. So it is both accidental and intended.

Did you find any difference from working with a predominantly male crew?
The main difference was there used to be a lot of giggling and laughing and we used to cry a lot when we had problems. We had our own frustrations but we were able to show the emotions to each other since we were women. May be if I had all men and I was the only woman I wouldn’t have exposed all my feeling so much. That was the only difference. Actually it was like a working women's hostel. We had real fun.

This would be a question in the mind of those who knew about this project - why did it take so long to release the film?
I finished shooting in a month.It’s been a year since we finished the film. Marketing a film like this is not easy. Because, it doesn’t have stars or major names. It is not a formula film - you don’t have songs, dances and fights at all. So, marketing the film took us a very long time. People don’t buy films like this that easily.

Why didn’t you act in the film?
When I decided to direct, I decided not to act in the film as I wanted to do one job and do it well. If I had to direct and act, I would have been confused between two things. May be in the future some time if I am comfortable, I might, but I feel I am quite happy doing one job at a time.

After your directorial debut in the big screen, have you got any other offers to direct?
Not yet. Because most of them haven’t seen my film yet. So let’s wait and see if there are any offers!

You seem to be very calm and cool like a cucumber. What is the secret behind it?
Secret? - This simply means I act very well.
I am always boiling inside… anxious about doing things.
I must say that I have been lucky in many ways. I have goot good parents parents who gave me the freedom to think and do what I wanted. They have always given me their suggestions but left the decisions to me. They have laid the foundation for my mental strength.
Not only my parents - My husband and my husband’s family also support me strongly in all my endeavours.
Even in films,I had the opportunity to work with the best of directors and subjects. God has been very kind to me so far.
I suppose, the foundation is very important and laid by the parents. And then the choice of of building up the charecter is up to the individual.I guess, I have used the freedom pretty well.

How was it acting with your husband?
Suresh and me - oh God! I have never felt so conscious with anybody else. I used to forget my dialogues.Even crying, smiling or saying something romantic was very difficult with him. We share a different kind of relationship. We used to take the work home, analyse and criticise our performance in each shot. It was different and I enjoyed working with him. ....More...